Put it to a Vote
by purpleblossom26
Summary: Marinette successfully challenged Chloe and was elected the new class representative! She knew the position would come with many new challenges, but how will she balance saving Paris while trying to save her social life? She quickly befriends the other class reps, including an older boy just as handsome and kind as Adrien! Marinette won the battle, but can she win the war?
1. Chapter 1

What I should be writing: Miraculous Heroine

What I'm actually writing: _THIS_

I've been at a loss for inspiration for MH lately and until I can get up off my sorry butt and finally finish it, I was hoping to get some feedback on this other story I've been thinking about for a while and finally wrote down. So please leave me some feedback in the comments and I will try to upload the next chapter as soon as I can.

Thank you as always for your continued support as I travel forward with wherever I'm headed! Here's for the best!

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Chapter 1

Marinette stood outside the student council club room door and tried to control her breathing. She could physically feel her heart pounding against her rib cage and she wouldn't have been surprised if those on the other side could hear it as well. She griped her binder and papers tightly against her chest while she mentally went over her checklist.

It was her first student council meeting as class president and representative, and she was beyond nervous. The other representatives were older, and therefore much smarter, than her. A cold sweat began to form on her brow and she quickly wiped it away.

It was too early for panicking, she told herself. She only knew the faces of the older students after stalking through the yearbook, which she would never admit to doing, but she was sure they would know everything about about her, especially after all the drama that had happened that year.

She was the girl who attracted the great Gabriel Agreste's attention in the derby hat design competition, who saved her class from certain disaster during Dark Blade's attack on City Hall, and who successfully took down the famous Chloe Bourgeois and had overtaken taken her title as freshman class representative.

"Don't you worry about a thing, Marinette!" Tikki encouraged from her purse. "If you can take down akumas without breaking a sweat, then you can easily conquer a simple meeting like this!"

Marinette smirked down at the spotted kwami. "You can say that because you're not actually going to be participating."

Tikki rolled her large orbs for eyes and zipped back into her hiding spot.

Marinette really hoped the other representatives' perception of her wouldn't be ruined because of Chloe's previous actions. If that was the case, her chance at making a good impression was already ruined the moment she was elected. This could be really bad. She could always bail and cut her losses before things got really ugly…

Suddenly the metal handle she had been staring at for the past few minutes turned on its own. The door swing inward and before her stood the silhouette of a boy looking down at her.

Marinette blinked to adjust to the lights in her eyes, but when her vision cleared, she instantly felt so much worse. The boy standing in front of her was at least two years older than her, maybe older. His cute curly brown hair, light hazel colored eyes, the various freckles dotted all over his face gave him the looks that could honestly compete with Adrien. She didn't want to admit it, but he really was...

 _Gorgeous._

He smiled down at her and chuckled. "Well, thanks."

Her eyes widened in horror. She said that last part out loud. She didn't need Chloe's previous impression as representative to ruin her own image. She managed to dig her own grave deep enough on her own. She needed to say something to get her out of this stupidly embarrassing situation _now_.

"I-I'm Marinette, the new representative for the freshman class. It's nice to meet you." Her voice shook, but she held out a firm hand after clumsily shifting her papers to her other arm.

The boy hadn't stopped smiling and took her hand. "Nice to finally meet you, Marinette. I was just about to go look for you. I think the others are really excited to meet you too, so you want to head inside? The meeting is about to start." Even his voice was handsome.

No, she thought. She was already after Adrien. She would absolutely _not_ fall for this guy.

She nodded and followed her fellow council member inside the meeting room. Inside, there was a long rectangular table where she counted five obviously older students staring at the two of them.

Marinette felt the boy rest a hand on her shoulder and a hot blush made it onto her cheeks. "Everyone, this is Marinette, the new representative for the freshman class that'll be taking over Ms. Bourgeois position. Let's welcome her and make her feel comfortable, yeah?"

A student at the other end of the table placed his hands behind his head and sighed in relief. "Thank God that blonde idiot isn't here anymore. Maybe we can actually get stuff done now."

The girl sitting next to him scowled and smacked him upside the head. "You idiot. She's probably already nervous and you're just making it worse. Watch your mouth, stupid."

"Well, he's right actually," Marinette reassured, waving the girl's concern away, "Chloe has always been difficult so I understand completely. I just hope I can be a better help to you than she was."

The guy with his hands behind his head opened an eye. "Trust me, you're already better than her. The first day she 'blessed' us with her presence she ordered me to go get her a drink from the coffee shop down the street. When I said 'no way', she stormed out and never came to another meeting." The entire room nodded and hummed, confirming his story. Yeah that definitely seemed like a Chloe thing to do if Sabrina wasn't currently acting as her personal errand girl.

Marinette felt the weight lift from her shoulder and she silently wished it would return. "Okay, okay. Now that we got _that_ out of the way," he started, "I think some introductions are in order. Alice, why don't we start with you?"

The short blonde haired girl from before smiled at Marinette and she couldn't help but smile in return. "As he said, My name's Alice and I'm the sophomore representative, and this idiot here," she jetted out her thumb at the boy with his hands behind his head, "is my incompetent vice-rep, Henry." Henry soundlessly removed a hand to wave at her before putting it back and leaning into his leather chair. He nodded at Alice's accusation as if saying, "Guilty as charged."

A dark skinned boy with a cool pair of Ray Bans sitting on the other side of the table across from Henry smiled and introduced himself next. "I'm Nicholas, but they usually just call me Nick. This is my vice-rep Ren," Marinette turned her attention to the dark haired Asian boy sitting to his right and found herself staring at his pretty blue eyes. "We're the Junior representatives. Let's work together, okay?" Marinette smiled and nodded.

The presence beside her moved forward and the boy- who could honestly compete with Adrien's looks- sat at the head of the table. "Looks like I'm last. The name's Curtis. I'm a Junior with Nick and Ren, and I'm the student body president, but you probably already knew that." The expressionless look on her face made Henry laugh.

"Oh my gosh, she totally didn't know! Haha!" he said leaning back further in his chair filling the room with his laughter. Marinette looked away, trying to hide the embarrassing blush taking over her face. She honestly hadn't expected Curtis to be the student body president, but it did make sense.

Alice punched Henry under his ribs and he immediately lurched forward with a painful grunt. He glared back at her and Marinette was feeling more and more uncomfortable by the second.

Curtis cleared his throat and waved the matter aside. "It's fine Henry, at least she knows now. Anyway we've stalled long enough. We need to get the ball rolling with this meeting now that introductions have been made."

"Hey Marinette, there's an empty seat over here. You should sit by me." Alice called, waving to get her attention.

"Oh, okay." Marinette said accepting the offer and slid into the large leather chair that seemed to swallow her presence. After looking around, she laid out all her papers and things onto the table like most of the other members, except for Henry who had brought nothing. Marinette silently pitied Alice, who seemed to pull most of Henry's weight. Curtis began speaking while Alice leaned closer to Marinette and raised her hand to whisper in her ear.

"We're the only girls here so we gotta stand up for each other, right?" Marinette noticed she held out a fist under the table and Marinette complied to the fist bump, nodding curtly.

* * *

"Okay, now that's all settled, I think this is a good place to close the meeting." Curtis concluded just over an hour later shuffling and organizing his papers, and everyone else followed suit. "Good work today, everyone. Let's schedule the next meeting to be mid-next week."

All the chairs wheeled backwards and the student council made their way outside the meeting room and into the empty commons area. Marinette was grateful how smoothly the meeting had gone after all the drama at the beginning. For the most part, it was uneventful and Marinette felt that everybody had been given a good enough impression of her.

She was able to bring up Nino's request to be able to listen to music in the library and was thankful how much Henry sided with her argument, considering how laid back he acts. "This Nino kid obviously knows what he's talking about," he had told her, "I could see us getting along."

The other members had some suggestions as well so she wasn't able to add any more of her own to the table, but luckily her opinion on matters seemed to have as much value as the other members'. She was relieved they had accepted her so openly.

"Hey Marinette, you wanna go grab something to eat?" Nick asked. "Usually at the end of meetings we go get dinner together."

"Oh, well, actually my family owns a bakery just down the street. I could treat you guys with some homemade croissant sandwiches, or something." She could feel the hard stares causing the hairs on her neck to stand on end. "But if you guys already had somewhere in mind that's cool too!"

They all looked at each other with wide eyes before bursting into laughter. Marinette felt an embarrassing blush take over her face. Boy, she must sound like a child.

But then she felt a heavy weight across her shoulders and found Henry leaning on her. "Dude, if you're offering food, you're automatically promoted to 'best friend' in my book. Which way to the free food?" Something pushed his head down and he grunted. Marinette nearly lost her footing, but quickly regained her balance. Looking over her shoulder, she wasn't surprised to find Alice harshly grabbing a fistful of her vice-rep's curly hair with fury in her eyes.

"Keep this up, and I'm going to make you write up all the reports next week. If Marinette is treating us to dinner, the least you can do is act _respectful_ for once!" On the last syllable she shoved his head forward one last time before releasing her iron grip.

"I swear I'm actually gonna kill you one of these days, you animal." Henry muttered under his breath next to Marinette's ear before removing his arm from her shoulders and giving her back her personal space.

"What was that?" Alice questioned with unnatural sweetness, cracking her knuckles.

"Okay, okay you two, settle down. You're going to make Marinette worry." Nick intervened, pushing the two apart before things got messy. Marinette quietly giggled and pointed down the road that led to the bakery.

"It's about two blocks this way. If we hurry, we can beat the dinner rush." Marinette informed while pulling out her phone to text her mother that they would be having some surprise guests. When she opened her purse, she got an encouraging wink from Tikki and she instantly felt better. Did Tikki have that kind of calming power? She wasn't sure. Suddenly a notification popped up with 'new text message received' taking over the screen.

"Is that your boyfriend?"

Marinette twirled around and found Curtis looking over her shoulder with a smirk. Oh no.

In her nervousness, Marinette laughed way too loud before finally regaining control. "Haha, uh no. It's probably just my acquaintance, I mean f-friend Alya." Dammit, why was she so nervous around Curtis? It was almost as bad as her trying to form words in front of Adrien! "She's actually my vice-rep but she couldn't make it to the meeting because of family conflicts. I mean conflicting family schedules! Her family's fine! I-I didn't mean it like that!" Marinette wanted to slap herself. Family conflicts? _Really_?

Luckily Curtis didn't seem to notice and turned back towards Ren. "You usually don't come to dinner with us, Ren. Already finished all your homework?" Ren glanced up from the sidewalk for a moment before nodding. Now that she thought about it, Marinette had yet to hear a word from Ren. He seemed to be a man of very few words.

"Hey Marinette, how much farther is your place? These two lovebirds are starting to become hard to handle." Nick was obviously starting to lose his control over Alice and Henry from trying to attack each other.

"WE ARE NOT LOVEBIRDS!" they shouted in unison taking a second from attacking each other to scream in Nick's ears.

Marinette smiled. She totally shipped them. "Not far at all." she answered, "It's just up ahead, and my mom texted me back saying she's already got the sandwiches made." The hungry looks on her new comrades' faces made her laugh.

* * *

The next day when Marinette met up with Alya outside the school by the front steps, she couldn't keep the smile off her face. Alya lifted an eyebrow.

"What's got you in such a good mood? Usually I have to drag you to school."

Marinette folded her arms and casually glanced off to the side. "Oh nothing special, really. Just recalling how amazing yesterday went after my vice-rep left me to fend for myself at the student representative meeting and had the best time ever."

Alya rolled her eyes and shook her head. "All right, all right I get it. But you know how often my parents are out and I'm forced to babysit! It was an emergency and I had no choice. Mom's making me babysit again today, but I'll make it up to you next time, okay?"

Marinette waved her best friend's concern aside. "Don't worry about it Alya, I was just teasing you. Curtis said the next meeting isn't until next week so there's no need to fuss about it."

Alya let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness. But I'll remember this the next time you malfunction in front of Adrien." The two minute bell interrupted their morning conversation and the two teens bolted inside in order to make it to class on time.

Alya made it to the door first with Marinette right on her tail. Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette noticed a head of curly brown hair and turned to see Curtis watching her from the first floor. He smiled and waved, but Marinette only had enough time to smile back before Mme. Bustier swiftly shut the door behind her.

"Glad to see you two actually _can_ make it to my class on time, girls."

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 **Not a long chapter, I'll admit. Just a teaser.**

 **Don't want to comment but still have a question? Feel free to find me on tumblr username spottedchatnoir and ask me anything you want!**

 **Let me know what you think and thanks again for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

Sooooooo here's the deal, ya'll:

Third quarter of senior year of HS just ended for me and I finally got all my awful crap together (thank you Lord) so I could _finally_ finish this chapter. I had about half of it already written but I finished the last half today. My head kinda hurts LOL.

It's been awhile since my last update, and I know, I'M SORRY. Hopefully this will somehow make up for it or try to begin making up for it because I kinda maybe overworked myself a little bit (whoops).

Anyways, if you really want me to update faster, the best way to make that happen is to send me a message or post a comment or something of the like because I get so busy most of the time that i just forget that I enjoy writing fanfiction? If that makes sense? But those little notifications I get are really great reminders for me.

I also want to mention that I want to start putting up little sneak peaks and snippets on my Tumblr page, so if you wanna bother me over there, DO IT (I dare you). Just message me or ask questions because Miraculous is literally my life rn! :D **(Tumblr URL: spottedchatnoir)**

Okay my rant is over I hope you all enjoy chapter 2!

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Chapter 2

White noise. That was all that seemed to fill Marinette's ears. That, and the hushed sound of paper rustling against itself. While Alya scribbled down the words on the board into her notebook like the rest of the class, the pig-tailed class rep was flipping through her numerous folders trying to organize her classwork from her miscellaneous sketches, and her class rep documents from her homework. But with the minimum amount of sleep she had gotten, all her thoughts were muffled and concentrating on anything for more than five seconds was a challenge in itself.

It was a long patrol for Ladybug the previous night after a robbery on Rue des Rosiers. Chat Noir, being his usual protective self, attempted to take on the masked thieves by himself. It was a four on one match and before Chat could get himself seriously hurt, Ladybug made sure to step in while capturing them in her yo-yo string. The police promptly arrived after that and as soon as they were handed off to Sabrina's father, Ladybug rushed home and dove through the skylight, transforming back before she even touched her mattress.

With her regular homework completed, she picked up her phone to text Alya when a message was already waiting on the screen. Alice had sent her a text while she was out, asking for a favor to create a short survey about students' eating habits and pass it out to the freshmen. What it could possibly be for, Marinette didn't have the slightest idea, but since Alice had asked, she found herself face to face with her worst enemy: not being able to say no. Glancing, and then moaning, at the time, Marinette fought the urge to forget the text and slip into bed and instead rolled up to her computer and started working.

With a little help from a spotted kwami, she was able to type out a decent survey and print out enough copies for the entire freshman class, which she was currently trying to find in her mad shuffle of papers and folders. With hardly a wink of sleep, Marinette didn't have time that morning to properly pack her backpack and ended up stuffing everything inside hoping she didn't miss anything.

At last, she pushed aside a loose physics worksheet and uncovered the surveys she had worked so hard on. Alice totally owed her, but at least she had everything together.

By the time Marinette had finally organized herself, class had reached its conclusion and people were startling to file out for lunch hour. Sweeping up all her things in one arm, Marinette leaped over Alya and rushed to the front door with the stack of papers tightly pressed under her arm.

Just as Kim was passing through the doorway talking to Max about where they wanted to go for lunch, Marinette jutted out her arm to block their path. Both boys turned their attention to her as she held out two copies of the surveys she had made.

Max took one of the pages and began to skim its contents while Kim stared at the other she was still holding out to him. "What is this?" he asked squinting at her printed words.

Waving the page in his face until he actually took it, Marinette finally answered loud enough for the rest of the class to hear. "It's a survey one of the representatives from the sophomore class asked me to pass out. She wants to know how freshmen usually spend lunch hour so if you can complete it by the end of the day and return it to me, I'd really appreciate it."

Kim stared at the paper for another moment before scoffing. "I'll do it, but not because you asked. You were talking about the really cute blonde girl who's in the student council, right?" Marinette nodded suspiciously and Kim smiled reading the survey as he walked. "She's super cute," he repeated under his breath, but Marinette was close enough to hear. She almost brought up Henry, but decided against it. He would find out at some point. She smiled as she imagined the possible scenarios with Henry defending Alice against the like of Kim. Then again, he was also the type of guy to leave her to fight her own battles.

Behind Kim, Marinette passed out her little surveys to Ivan, Mylene, Rose, Juleka, and Sabrina (who also took Chloe's that somehow later ended up in the garbage). As Marinette eyed Chloe rolling her eyes at her as she passed, Nino surprised her by taking one of the surveys from her hand and thanked her while walking out the door. That was when Marinette suddenly remembered she had something to tell him.

Conveniently, her not so trusty vice rep was leaning next to her with a foot casually rested against the wall typing away on her phone, probably working on the Ladyblog. Marinette immediately grabbed her wrist without warning and threw the papers into her hands, pulling her to the spot she was just in a moment ago.

"Mari-"

"I gotta tell Nino something. You finish up with the last of these, and I'll meet you outside okay?" Before Alya could even think of a rebuttal, Marinette was out the door chasing their friend.

She caught up with the cap wearing DJ down the stairs and out in the common area. She shouted out his name and waved to get his attention. He turned over his shoulder, smiled when he saw her, and stopped to give her time to catch up.

"What's up? I haven't had time to do the survey thing yet."

"That's okay, this isn't about the survey. Nino, I talked to the other class reps at our last meeting and pitched your listening to music in the library idea and guess what!"

He smirked, and pretended to think, "Hmm, could it be they're finally going to add manga to the library so I don't have to buy them with all of my money and have them shipped from Japan?"

Marinette's eyes went wide for a moment before nervously laughing it off. "What? Wait,you read manga? No, Nino! I mean they accepted it! I talked with Curtis this morning who told me both the librarian and Mr. Damocles signed the agreement saying students can listen to music as long as they have headphones! Isn't that great?"

Nino tilted his head and glanced off into the distance. "Bummer, I would have really liked those manga…" He noticed Marinette's unimpressed expression and laughed, "Marinette, I'm just messing with you, geez! Really though, that's awesome news! Looks like I owe you one."

Marinette smiled and nodded. "You sure do. I'll keep that in mind when I need a favor."

Just then, Alya came barreling towards them and leaned into the space between them. "So you're giving out favors now? Where were you when I asked for help with ladybug watch last week?"

Nino frowned. "Alya there was no way I was going to wait for ladybug to show up for three hours straight! I've got things to do! I still don't know why you do it."

Alya looked confused, as if the answer was obvious. "What do you mean? There's no way to know when she would have shown up, so a stakeout is the only way to catch them in action!"

"Okay, okay you two break it up," Marinette interrupted from the sidelines before noticing Nick and Ren outside waving at her to come over, "I gotta go see what those guys want, but I'll catch up with you guys this afternoon, okay?" She turned and started trotting over to the junior reps.

Alya cupped her hands over her mouth so her voice could reach her, "What about lunch? I thought we were going out!"

Marinette turned over her shoulder and held up her hands and shrugged. "Rain check?" She said before turning back to the older boys and began talking with them.

Alya let out a deep sigh before crossing her arms. "By the time I cash in all these rain checks that girl is going to be my slave." Nino laughed and nudged her shoulder with his.

"Oh come on, she's got a lot on her plate now as rep. You should cut her some slack."

Just then, Adrien walked up and waved. "What's all the commotion about?"

Nino smiled as they did their signature handshake before resting his elbow on his shoulder. "Nothing much, dude. Just saying how busy Marinette's getting now with class rep stuff and all." He said pointing at Marinette who was nodding at something one of the guys at said.

Adrien nodded like he understood. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. She seems to be doing a good job so far. I heard people say that music's okay in the library now!"

"Isn't it awesome? I'm so stoked I can finally work on my tracks while pretending to do my homework without getting caught!"

Alya smiled slyly. "I don't think you're doing Marinette any good, Nino." A ringing tone came from her backpack, and after a glance at the caller ID, she waved a quick goodbye before making her way home.

Following her lead, the two remaining teens slowly made their way through the school entrance while discussing a new game console that had just been announced. While Nino was going on about the games he wanted to try out, Adrien found himself glancing towards Marinette and smiled when he saw how in depth she looked into her conversation. He had no clue what she could be talking about so enthusiastically to start gesturing with her arms in such a crazy fashion, but it was somehow kinda amusing.

Nino lightly punched his shoulder before saying goodbye and heading down the sidewalk. "Gotta go home real quick before lunch is over. See you in a little bit." Adrien waved back and somehow his eyes moved to see the blue pig-tailed class rep standing on the opposite end of the staircase.

Catching him off guard, Marinette's eyes seemed to dart to him and her smile slowly morphed into a stressed line. He could easily see the whites of her eyes from the distance he was standing and her face seemed to erupt in a shade of red, which grew darker with each second their gaze held strong. Adrien suddenly became conscious of the heavy weight pumping in his chest.

Marinette squeaked once before finally being able to tear her eyes away from his and turn back to the boys she was talking with, who he now noticed were also staring at him. The curly haired one smiled and waved, while the other one wearing the glasses showed no recognizable expression and turned back to Marinette, but not without sending a freezing chill down his spine. Adrien's eyes widened for half a second before he looked away just to see Natalie frowning in front of the silver car waiting for him by the curb. She wordlessly opened the door for him and shut it after he slipped inside looking down at a stack of papers in her hand.

Adrien couldn't bring himself to look back in the off chance that someone could somehow see through the tinted window to see his rosy cheeks or how he was clutching at his chest for an unknown reason.

"Oh poor, poor Marinette." Nick taunted elbowing Ren beside him, "She's got it bad for the handsome prince."

Marinette's mouth fell open and her heart felt like it had fallen off a cliff, had climbed back up, and was jumping off all over again. "I-I'll have you know," she argued pointing her index finger, "that Adrien and I are just acquaintances! There's nothing between us so don't even start."

Nick paused for a moment before letting out a quick chuckle. He hummed and nodded in sarcastic agreement. "Yep. Acquaintances. Just acquaintances, that is, until you actually _ask him out_."

"What are you talking about? Me asking out Adrien Agreste? That's impossible!" Marinette tried to convince both them and herself, but found her teeth chewing on her bottom lip in frustration.

"It's actually _quite_ possible. Here's what you do: go up to the guy and say," Nick got down on one knee and held out a hand to her, bowing his head in character, "'Oh, my dearest Adrien, would you do me the absolute privilege of getting coffee with me this evening.'" He cooed in a high pitched Victorian accent.

Marinette had to cover her mouth as she bent over laughing. Seeing Ren's straight face in the corner of her eye, however, brought her back to reality and she decided to join Nick in his little role play. She placed one hand in his placed the other against her hip.

"Why Miss Marinette," she said deepening her voice,"it would bring me the greatest joy to accompany you indulge in the splendor of getting coffee with a beauty such as yourself." Nick smirked at her from under his brow before straightening himself and together the two of them fell into a natural fit of giggles and chuckles.

Ren still seemed unaffected by their little game and cleared his throat. Marinette wiped away a stray tear and shouldered her backpack. Ren was right, they were wasting their precious lunch hour. "Well that was fun. I still need to go actually eat food during this lunch break, so I'm going to head on ahead."

Taking the steps two, and even three, at a time, Marinette jumped to the sidewalk and waved back to her friends before running down the street to her home where her mother was probably reheating her lunch in the microwave.

"We gotta help that girl out, Ren. She's completely hopeless." Nick sighed.

Ren took out his glasses case and put his Ray Bans inside before brushing his overgrown bangs behind his ear. "Maybe. We should wait a little bit longer, though. We planted the seed. Let's see if it grows."

Nick smirked before slapping his best friend across the back. "Looks like she's not the only hopeless romantic, hm? You and your poetic advice, I swear."

Ren smiled and rolled his eyes. "Let's go. I'm starving."

* * *

 **Review Responses:**

 **Hispanicin: Haha thank you so much! And I hope this solved that issue ;)**

 **Korina110: Me too, dude! I'm usually not confident in my OC's but I kinda fell in love with Nick this chapter (haha you know why B))**

 **Sara3361: I'll do my best! Thank you!**

 **korina110: Bloop your request is answered :P**

 **Guest: OMG thank you so much!**

 **Guest: I'm just going to have to tell you to wait and see hehe sorry! ;)**

 **Dwarrior: Me too bud. Me too. Thank you!**

 **KawaiiMaster: Bloop, here it is bud! AND DID YOU REALLY DO THAT OMG I'M HONORED ^-^**

* * *

 **Keep the comments coming for reals though, they really do help me out a lot personally!**

 **Thanks to you all for your wonderfully kind words for chapter one! You're all seriously AMAZING I LOVE YOU MWAH**


	3. Chapter 3

Happy day after Easter! It's been a crazy spring break full of not relaxing for me, but I managed to work on this chapter little by little and I'm so glad it's finally done! I'm actually super happy with how this one turned out and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it! It's a little shorter than I would have liked, but I was determined to post whatever I had today.

As usual, thank you all so so _so_ much for the support both in the comments and choosing to follow this crap story LOL. The comments you guys leave really keep me going and I'm literally so thankful for each one, they're a blessing. Okay my monologue is concluded, and you may read now.

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Chapter 3

To the railing. Back to the chimney. Then back to the railing….and to the chimney again.

"You seem a little dis- _cat_ -ted tonight, my lady." Chat Noir joked from his perch above the chimney stack, "Something on your mind?"

"Nothing of particular importance," Ladybug responded trying to forget about the horrific pun, and continued to pace around the roof. It really wasn't important, at least in the light of what they were supposed to be doing. Paris had been uncomfortably quiet during the past month, besides the usual petty purse thefts and attempted break-ins, of course.

Without any sign of possible akuma breakout, the two superheroes kept to their usual patrolling schedules with the same watchful eye over the city of lights as always, trying to convince themselves the prolonged akuma absence was, in fact, a good thing.

Even if by chance they would never see an akuma ever again, Ladybug had to keep the city safe. That was the promise she'd made. She wouldn't deny it even if she was bored out of her mind and finally given time to think about the life of the girl without the spotted mask.

Nick's words had been constantly bothering her ever since he brought up Adrien during lunch a few days ago. She'd been wondering what it would be like to actually talk with her blond crush without stuttering like a maniac and hopelessly embarrassing herself. He'd made it seem so _easy_ , but role playing with Nick didn't feel the same as talking with Adrien. Nick was over exaggerating the 'romantic flirt' vibe.

She knew Adrien well enough to know he wasn't that kind of flirt, or any kind of flirt for that matter.

"Are you sure? Because I've never seen a girl pace so urgently before." Chat smirked, dazing off into the romantic scenery. "By the way, you would make a great model. You've already got the walk down."

Ladybug ignored the comment, but stopped her pacing and leaned over the railing, observing the same lights as Chat. "What are we still doing here?" She asked, not really expecting a real answer, just in need of something to keep the conversation from turning into a Chat tease fest. She heard the scuffle of his boots landing on the tiled rooftop and then sauntering over to stop beside her. In her peripheral, Ladybug noted the blond lean over the railing, putting the weight in his forearms. She wouldn't admit it, but the way the light glossed over his green eyes was almost hypnotizing.

"Even if there isn't a crazy monster that needs purifying, I think the people of Paris can feel safer knowing there are two beautiful heroes to protect them." He nudged her shoulder and she rolled her eyes playfully, "We stand as a physical symbol of justice that Paris had gone so long without and now that they have it, it's something they see as precious. Without the miraculous heroes, Paris would probably fall into a depression of crime and vandalism. That's why the city will always relies on us. Don't you agree?"

Ladybug smiled, completely blown away. "I do. But Chat?"

"Yeah?" He sounded distant, almost like he was in the middle of a dream. She leaned her head towards her partner. He could be so cute sometimes.

"I was asking what we were still doing here, as in, _on the roof_. It's getting pretty late after all." Stealing a quick glance, she noticed the slits of his emerald eyes widen slightly, and the black ears on top of his head straighten. "I totally knew that."

Ladybug suppressed a laugh and leaned away from the railing arching her back, and observing the many black spots that trailed down her arms. "I'm sure you did. But like I said, it's getting pretty late so I'm going to go on ahead. Is that okay?"

"O-Of course! I'll just…wrap things up here." He replied still overlooking the city, awkwardly scratching under one of the black ears. The way he swatted at it made him really look like a feline.

She grinned one last time before taking her yo-yo to swing away. The compact soared through the night sky and tightened around a terrace down the street, but before she could tug on the string, a gloved hand clamped over her wrist stopping any movement. She turned over her shoulder, and stared at Chat's mess of tangled hair, searching for his eyes that were hiding underneath.

"Chat?" His head immediately shot up and Ladybug found herself having to tilt her head upward to meet Chat's unnaturally piercing eyes.

"Don't think I didn't notice how you avoided the subject earlier. You're obviously bothered by something, and you're making me worry about you. We're partners, and partners don't keep things from each other. So don't try to bottle up all your problems from me, because I can't take it to see you like this." His grip loosened slightly and his eyes finally lowered. "It's not like you."

Ladybug stared wide eyed for a moment before sighing. She should have been paying more attention to Chat. She'd always forget how much he cared about her, even if was the biggest flirt she had ever met. He didn't know her real name, but he was more concerned for her than most people in her class. She'd always forget how strongly they trusted each other, even off the battlefield. The guilt of taking Chat for granted was boiling in her chest, threatening to suffocate her.

Taking her free hand, she reached up past his face and began to gently smooth out Chat's soft hair. Her gloved fingertips effortlessly explored her partner's scalp. Every tangle magically fell apart at her touch, begging her to keep going. She was getting lost in his river of shimmering gold.

"Thanks. But you really don't have to worry so much about me." She reassured letting her hand fall limp back to her side. "I can take care of myself."

Chat's hand returned the favor and released her wrist to run his clawed hand through his tampered hair.

"I know, but that doesn't mean you're in this alone. You've probably got a whole bunch of friends who've got your back just waiting to help you out," Chat suddenly smirked and jetted his thumb towards himself, "and even if you don't, you've still got me!"

"Oh yes, however would I live without my precious tomcat?" She teased with a shrug. Without waiting for another opportunity, Ladybug pulled on the string, and let the yo-yo launch her into the air. The last thing she wanted was to keep Chat worried about her personal issues he had nothing to do with.

"Probably just fine." He finally answered, but his words had been left unheard.

* * *

There were blank stares shared across the entire table. Marinette could see the whites of Curtis' eyes as his mind raced and it was beginning to put her on edge. Nick still stood with the biggest smile on his face, hoping for absolutely anyone to say something about his proposition. Marinette looked to Alya for some kind of reaction, in which she just shrugged.

"Nick," Curtis began gently regaining his composure, "I think having a festival at school would be a lot of fun, but we have to think logically here. How do we organize an entire event in just two weeks? Not to mention getting it approved would take some time. Someone will have to be in charge of decorations and other preparations," his eyes slowly rolled back behind his eyelids, "and of course we can't forget about Mayor Bourgeois' say in the matter."

Nick waved away the president's concern with a wave of his hand. "We can worry about the details later, but I think a festival would be a great time to celebrate the start of spring, as well as the absence of any more monster attacks!" He glanced down towards Ren sitting to his side and scoffed when his vice rep casually looked away. Apparently he wasn't entirely sold on the idea either.

"C'mon guys, this could be awesome!" Nick urged, glancing around to Alice, Henry, Ren, and even Alya. When his eyes finally locked on to Marinette's, he seemed to sense some kind of positive reaction from her and he didn't hesitate to make his move. "Marinette, you think it's a good idea, right?"

All wandering gazes suddenly gravitated towards her, and she fought the urge to sink into her seat. She could hear the charged pumping of her heart in her chest, as steaming blood coursed through every corner of her body. She took a moment to breathe in before quietly clearing her throat.

"To be perfectly honest, it's been a long time since the freshman class has been part of a celebration beside the normal holidays like Bastille Day, Christmas, et cetera, so I think a festival would be a great idea as long as we get the support from the teachers. Plus each class can share the workload so it's not too much to take on at once."

There was a prolonged silence and with each passing sentence Marinette felt more and more self-conscious.

"Well?" Alice impatiently asked Curtis, who was just as out of it as anyone else. "Are we going to do this or not?"

Curtis' brow furrowed as he thought while massaging the bridge of his nose. After a few seconds of obviously hard thought, he sighed and his hand plopped back to the table. "Guess we're going to have to vote."

* * *

After the meeting, Alya and Marinette were walking ahead of the group as the entire student council, including Alya this time, made their way to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. The sun was beginning to sink behind the roofs around them and dark shadows had started to form.

The events of the meeting were still racing through Marinette's mind and she couldn't believe how confident she had been when she spoke her mind. She was all Nick needed in order to vote on the festival. To see the elated look on his face when it was approved made her happy beyond words.

Although the festival was going to be a guaranteed blast, there was just one obstacle standing in her way.

"Remind me again why _we_ were put in charge of convincing Mayor Bourgeois to help sponsor the festival." Marinette asked/complained to Alya.

Alya rolled her eyes. "Because someone's spoiled little _daughter_ just so happens to be in our class." They both knew the answer but Alya hoped saying it out loud would've helped. It didn't.

Alya noticed her friend's dejected expression and bumped against her to get her to look up.

"C'mon it isn't so bad. Alice and Henry have to spend the entire day together buying decorations! Actually now that I think about it, are they dating?"

That got the smallest hint of a smile on her face. "You're right, I have to be positive." Then her little smile turned into a smirk. "And yes, they're dating. They just don't know it yet."

They silently giggled to themselves as they crossed the next street.

"Okay, okay so how are we going to convince the Mayor? From what I've seen he's constantly busy, and even if we do get a minute to talk to him, we don't even know if he'll support us! The last time we tried to have a school dance, he completely shut it down!"

Alya nodded, remembering the incident. "That's true, but this time I have a plan," her smile widened, "and it involves convincing a very young and very attractive model to help us."

Henry nearly knocked over Marinette when she stopped moving and stood frozen in the doorway.

* * *

 **Review Responses:**

 **Haruki-senpai** : Did you intentionally try to make my heart explode because gosh you did a really good job. Thank ya darlin! ^3^

 **Korina110** : I can't spoil anything, but you might want to stay tuned because I have some interesting plans :)

 **Hispanicin** : OMG THX

 **summermom821** : Oh boy. I've got plans, bud. _PLANS._

 **korina110** : Shhh be patient, my friend. I will give you exactly what you need. :)

 **ladynoirlover1** : HERE, I GIVE YOU MORE

 **littleteddybearstitches** : That's the plan! Thank you! :)

 **summermom821** : I can relate to that very much haha :P

 **fangoddess123** : Boom! I updated just for you! Thank you so much! ;P

* * *

 **Y'all gotta stop it with these kind words you're killing me with the kindness overload OMG X)**

 ** **P.S.** **I'm just trying out my new drawing tablet and I was wondering if anyone would be interested in my attempts at drawing the council kids? I'm not very good at all, but if that sounds interesting let me know! I might post them on my tumblr? maybe? IDK****

 **Okay see y'all next chapter! Love you all, thank you!**


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